Mount Edelstone Vineyard Today
The original 1m high trellis consists of two wires that carry two to three arched canes with a bud number of around fifty to sixty per vine. The foliage forms a drooping canopy, which helps to reduce shoot vigour. In 1989 Prue trialled ten rows of a Scott Henry trellis in which the shoots were trained upwards and downwards from the fruiting canes. This allowed the sunlight to reach the leaves and fruit, increased fruit production, colour and flavour, improved tannin maturity and promoted earlier ripening. The trellis had such a positive impact on wine quality that more than three-quarters of the vineyard has now been converted to Scott Henry.
Mount Edelstone is underlain by laminated siltstones of the Tapley Hill Formation. The soil layers go to a significant depth before reaching the bedrock. Fine sandy loams lie over deep, gravelly, medium-red clays. A pale mottled clay/clay-loam layer indicates that a large degree of leaching and periodic waterlogging has occurred.
The rocks beneath the red clay soils are schists of Cambrian age. These are metamorphosed mineral-rich sediments, originally deposited in a shallow sea, then deeply buried, and finally pushed back up to the surface, where they have weathered to produce a thick soil layer.
The vineyard has a permanent sward that includes native grasses. Like the other Henschke vineyards, Mount Edelstone is managed using organic and biodynamic practices. This includes using composted grape marc, milk whey, bicarbonate sprays and special preparations such as cow-pit peat made primarily from cow manure. It is broken down into a rich soil medium that is oxygenated in flowing water and sprayed over the land four to five times through spring. A preparation, known as 501 and made from finely crushed quartz crystals (silicon dioxide) buried in cow horns, is mixed with water and misted over the vines. The silica crystals reflect more light into the canopy and stimulate photosynthesis.
The mass selection program begun by Prue in 1986 to identify the best vines for propagation has resulted in a nursery of the best vines for propagation has resulted in a nursery of the top-selected vines. Cuttings are propagated and planted as needed in the vineyard, usually one or two a year, to replace old vines as they die.
